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State, U.S. legislators get lesson about water quality lab

Feb 25, 2013

A group of state and national legislators and their representatives visited the National Center for Water Quality Research Feb. 14 and Feb. 20 to learn about the lab’s programs and its extensive research.

“We wanted them to be aware of the NCWQR, its programs and its importance to national issues involving water quality and causes of water pollution,” said lab director Ken Krieger, who organized the legislative day.

While the representatives toured the facility, located in Gillmor Hall of Science, NCWQR staff members demonstrated equipment used in their research and spoke about the extensive data sets collected over the past four-plus decades. The lab uses its water quality data to understand and interpret the impacts of food production on soil and water resources, the status of water quality, the effects of water quality on aquatic ecosystems and future implications for the availability of healthy, usable water.

As a leader in surface and ground water research and monitoring in the Great Lakes region and beyond, the lab seeks its funding entirely from state and national government and private foundation sources.

State Rep. Rex Damschroder, R-Fremont, was on campus last week, along with representatives of U.S. Reps. Bob Gibbs and Jim Jordan, U.S. Sens. Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown. Jordan, who was unable to come to campus last week, visited this week. Heidelberg President Rob Huntington and Provost David Weininger were on hand to greet the legislators.